My husband and I just tested for travel purposes and free, pcr test was 24 hours. My daughter’s school seems to be about the same time frame and they’re testing even vaccinated students a ton - she had 3 tests last week.
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Sorry to see this, hopefully the other NESCAC schools like Williams and Amherst can maintain the current very low positivity rates.
Thanks, people who responded about pcr tests. It’s so interesting how things can really vary from place to place. Sounds like there are still quite a lot of places with slow turnaround, ugh.
My daughter is at a nonflagship state university in Texas.
Well, even in a “fast” turnaround place, it might be slower now than a few months ago just due to increased volume. Delta variant has revitalized an interest in testing.
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I just looked up the turnaround times for PCR tests at some COVID testing sites:
| Sites | Turnaround Time |
|---|---|
| Walgreens | <72 hours |
| Rite Aid | 2-5 days |
| CVS | 1-2 days |
| Quest Diagnostics | 2-3 days |
So far, so good at Amherst. No student positives since move-in. All of the students were tested this past Sunday and Monday, plus the half of students who tested Sunday also tested yesterday (all came back negative) and students who tested Monday testing again today.
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Thanks, that chart is helpful. Although where I live, they say those long turnaround times I think as a way of managing expectations, but the results in reality come dramatically quicker. Even though we are in a bit of a surge, my husband was tested twice in the past 3 weeks, and was told it could be up to 48 hours, but the results from morning tests came in the late afternoon both times (less than 12 hours). I thought that was typical but it does sound like there is a range of experiences.
Just want to get a feel for the validity of my concerns. D’s college is on the small side and currently has a 1.8% student infection rate, without surveillance testing. They sent an email to students this week telling them if they were not identified as a close contact they did not need to be tested, even if they were experiencing symptoms (
) and that they should attend class and visit the dining hall as usual. CDC recommendations say vaccinated individuals should get tested if they are symptomatic. I just don’t see how acting like it doesn’t exist makes it go away.
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Biden just announced rapid Covid tests will be available to purchase at cost on Amazon and at Walmart and Kroger stores starting next week.
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I’m surprised that any college would send out something that basically says “don’t test if symptomatic.” What was the exact wording of this e-mail?
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“If you are vaccinated, do not have any high-risk medical conditions, and have mild symptoms for which you would not otherwise seek medical care, you do not need testing.”
But he didn’t say what the cost would be. At first he said “at cost” then he said 35% reduced price. Hmm, reduced from what?
SDSU swill remain in person. Whew!
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True….it was a bit wishywashy….and honestly I’d like to know where all the tests are coming from because last I read there were shortages in the rapid test market. And I found a few to send to my D but there was a purchase limit.
I think he referenced the defense production act but that’s the first I’d heard of that.
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Ramping up Defense Production Act for rapid tests.
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DW and I are flying to Portugal next week. We must have a rapid test that is 48 hours old max to enter each hotel during our trip, plus if we dine inside a restaurant on the weekends. We called our hotels to see if they had the tests or we needed to provide and were told they typically have them on hand but if not, we can get them at most grocery stores and pharmacies for 2.5 euros each.
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Conn College is reporting 120 student cases from the past week, over 130 since school began. Positivity rate is 6% for this week. Seems awfully high for a school with a vaccine mandate. Wondering if there could be issues with the test like Rice experienced?
I noticed that, too. The ones I’ve seen mentioned are about 2/$24. But regardless the cost, cynical me says that people will buy them because the results are not reported to any health department, so people can then ignore quarantine/isolation. Now if they are a listed close contact, then they will have to disclose the true test result (or will that be the honor system?). But if the general public wants to get tested, they are the only ones who will get the results. Kind of like the honor system for vaccination status.